Here’s The Scoop … Merry Christmas & Happy New Year … To All … My New Year’s Resolution … It’s Time To Say Goodbye…

GOODBYE ….

Dear Readers … this writer wishes you all a very Merry Christmas and a happy and healthy New Year in 2011… The end of January 2011 will mark 3 years for my BCbythesea.com website … and I can truly say it’s been quite a ride … Full of ups and downs… and everything in-between …and I mean everything!…

Through it all I always had high hopes for the future of this town … in order to get it back on track after the 2008 municipal election ….I was never shy about posting or speaking my opinions … no matter how much hot water it would get me in or how many “slaps” I would receive from foes and friends alike …..

I made it my business to supply you all with as much archived background material and public records requests as I could obtain in order to support my opinions and to allow readers to come to their own conclusions on whether they agreed with me or not…. now armed with that information that so many were not privy to prior to those postings ….

The turning point of course came last March with the 65% landslide win to overthrow the CIC majority I helped put in place in 2008 …That “slate” of three comprised of candidates Mayor Roseann Minnet/Scot Sasser and Chris Vincent who stepped up on that dais after such a strong win knew they had much to get done…. And while I am still pretty harsh more often than not in my after meeting postings… they have proven to me and the 65% who gave them their seats up there …it was the correct decision we all made in the voting booth…

This writer wrote about their many successes as they approached 100 days in office as well as posting what we should be thankful for on Thanksgiving 2010…(prev. posts)… Editor Mark Brown did much the same while including more successes that took place after Thanksgiving in his new editorial in this month’s ByTheSeaFuture … (see link below)…

Anyone who looks at the Town’s website can find more information available to them than I ever thought I would ever see thanks to PIO Steve D’Oliveira and New Town Manager Connie Hoffmann…Much more is to come ….including e-alerts ….as the site expands and improves further with new technology put in place… http://www.lauderdalebythesea-fl.gov/ ….Our government channel on Comcast… channel 78 now has different music playing in the background.. as well as the welcome addition of community niceties placed front and center such as the Christmas-By-The-Sea 2010 photos being shown ….The Chamber of Commerce has upgraded their site as well and that too has provided those of you online with more information on happenings in town as well as facts and figures on the Welcome Center and how we’re doing as a tourist destination … http://www.lbts.com/chamber.html …The Pompano Pelican has expanded its coverage online … http://pompanopelican.webs.com/ … as well as its copies available in LBTS in the condos and in certain store and Town buildings… and of course hard at work … still … is our only local newspaper…. the National Award Winning ByTheSeaFuture thanks to Publisher Michael Arker…Managing Editor James Fletcher and especially Editor and writer Mark Brown who together provide both a hard copy and online monthly report of all that is happening in and around town and beyond … http://www.bytheseafuture.org/ …The residents…businesses…tourists and this writer are more than covered …like we never were before …thanks to these “vehicles” in place providing us all with an abundance of transparent and timely information …

I made my 2011 New Year’s Resolution ….

I truly believe thanks to all of them this is the right time for me to say goodbye as the “Chief Blogger” posting all the “scoops” around town … Each month since the election last March has been a tug -of-war for me deciding if and when I should make an exit… It became a balancing act that got a more than a little out of balance due to being so far away from home as each month added up to nine months thus far… Even harder now that Lilly is eight months old (Dec. 18th) and suddenly mobile …She started crawling 1 week ago … making Nana’s double duty … triple duty as a result of her constant wandering in wonderment …something she has always possessed and can now finally act upon 24/7 ! … Also throw into the mix two other factors I did not foresee last winter as I prepared to come to Chicago … First, that Lilly’s mom would be traveling more than I anticipated due to her evolutionary discovery .. (prev. posts)…which meant more research was required of her …as well as more invites to speak at conferences in the states and overseas as a result of her paper being published extending my stay here for another 18 months or so… and I am still suffering from the effects of my flawed injection of the flu shot I received over 2 months ago which flares up dramatically after typing for long periods on posts.. leaving little doubt that the best way to stop the constant pain is to stop the constant posting…

In 2006 I began participating in LBTS Town politics after my children were grown and I had the time to get heavily involved … especially after what I witnessed going on at that time …and continuing on in 2007….2008…2009 and 2010 ….While I will no longer be posting. ..and I may not be standing at the Jarvis Hall podium making my public comments..I will still participate as a resident and a taxpayer by continuing to watch all the meetings and special community seminars dealing with the next “chapter” of the Town’s Master Plan…I will avidly read the local newspaper …and all other news covering our town…as well as reading the extensive backup materials supplied by the Town online… and I will contact my Commissioners with any concerns …ideas .. or relevant information I can share with them ….. because just like all of you… LBTS is my still my home and there is no place else like it!…

Again, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year and of course ….a big thank you ….to all my “Avid Readers”….